BUT has anyone noticed whether their programmable dash buttons are deteriorating like mine.

I have noticed that the more highly used ones are losing their painted finish. The numeral in the middle is transparent so they can be backlighted, but the surrounding grey/black finish is starting to display a fine crack which is allowing more of the backlighting to show through. I must it admit its only just noticable but it is there. It will probably get worse through further use.

Oh wow I see what you mean, I'm surprised that would happen so soon or at all for that matter. Everyone's hands and natural oils are different and cause different wearing. I'm pretty sure you can get the pieces replaced, I know back on my family's 2000 5er the center console buttons would pop off or break rather easy and we were able to get replacements.

Oh wow I see what you mean, I'm surprised that would happen so soon or at all for that matter. Everyone's hands and natural oils are different and cause different wearing. I'm pretty sure you can get the pieces replaced, I know back on my family's 2000 5er the center console buttons would pop off or break rather easy and we were able to get replacements.

It's good to hear the buttons can be replaced. I'll wait to my first service to have the problem rectified. The buttons function perfectly well.

I think my skin oils are quite normal and I don't use any cosmetic hand creams or moisturisers. Nothing else I touch has undergone the same changes

That looks like something went wrong with the injection mold process. Not necessarily a wear problem. Maybe some usage is bringing the problem to light but those parts were never made right from the start. Maybe it was a bad batch?

I had that happen on my truck, but it was after about 4 years. Most definitely it was from wear. The paint they used was quite thin, I guess they wanted the numbers to illuminate but after awhile the most often touched areas wore down and the light would show through.

Yours is a bit different than my truck though. It's hard to tell if the paint is wearing off or not in the picture. In any case, in my truck, they just replaced the whole unit (6 disk in dash cd changer/mp3) and didnt bother with the buttons. I was surprised, but I guess under warranty, that's how they do things at Ford. It was a 30min process, so I can't complain. Although, it did start to happen again right before I traded it in earlier this year for my car.

When you wash the car, do you ever use any kind of chemical or solvent while wiping down the dashboard? (Or if you have someone else wash the car, do you know what they use to spray their rags?)

That's not wearing thin from abrasion/normal rubbing (to witness that, look at a soft touch painted mouse or cell phone after a few years) it appears that some type of oil or residue has gotten under those keys via the open area (number) and started to seep behind which is causing the paint to shrink back.

Do you have a significant other, child, guest who ever wears any hand lotions?

Otherwise do you wipe the buttons down with any type of off the shelf cleaner when detailing the car?

Either of those would be my guest - I design products with soft touch paint and this is exactly the type of failure you see after exposure to any type of oleic acid or alcohol. I see you're in Australia too so the extreme heat the car may see may also be part of the issue.

When you wash the car, do you ever use any kind of chemical or solvent while wiping down the dashboard? (Or if you have someone else wash the car, do you know what they use to spray their rags?)

That's not wearing thin from abrasion/normal rubbing (to witness that, look at a soft touch painted mouse or cell phone after a few years) it appears that some type of oil or residue has gotten under those keys via the open area (number) and started to seep behind which is causing the paint to shrink back.

Do you have a significant other, child, guest who ever wears any hand lotions?

Otherwise do you wipe the buttons down with any type of off the shelf cleaner when detailing the car?

Either of those would be my guest - I design products with soft touch paint and this is exactly the type of failure you see after exposure to any type of oleic acid or alcohol. I see you're in Australia too so the extreme heat the car may see may also be part of the issue.

Thanks for your comments, Cyberdemon.

No, I am the only one who touches the keys. I rarely wipe the keys. The only gentle wiping would be done with a soft (dry) microfibre cloth.

No alcohol used on my hands.

Could be related to the heat, but I don't think our climate would be any worse than in say southern California